


History

by canis_m



Category: Juuni Kokki | Twelve Kingdoms
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-05
Updated: 2006-08-05
Packaged: 2017-11-15 03:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canis_m/pseuds/canis_m
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was forged during the Summer Age.</p>
            </blockquote>





	History

"You know my predecessor was not a military man. He appreciated swordplay as an art. 'The beautiful game,' he called it, in the same breath as double sixes and shuttlecocks. I had just been appointed General of the Left when he heard of the tournament in En. He determined that I must go and champion the glory of Tai." 

A pause in remembrance of bygone foolishness, wasted ambition, dead kings. 

"That was how Kangyoku came to me. You know the story, you've heard it before. But I may not have told you how the blade came to be.

"It was forged during the Summer Age. There was a period during the dynasty of Toku-ou, some thousand years ago, when the climate grew relatively mild. Think of Hou, or even Ryuu. Being peopled as it is, Tai is never placid, but on the whole those were peaceful years. Toku-ou was a great ruler, a patron of the crafts, a brilliant archer. Before ascending the throne she belonged to an order of ascetic warrior sisters in the mountains of Jou. Her treatise on the bow has yet to be surpassed, if you care to read it. If you want to read of her court, read the pillow book of Setsuren. 

"Of course she practiced the sword as well. The bladesmith she favored was a man called Kokkan. All through the Summer Age this Kokkan forged nothing but winter weapons, as if he were convinced that their time would come again. For his work he was admired as a genius, but for his philosophy he was reviled. 

"Whatever others thought of him, the king never withdrew her patronage. Kangyoku was the last sword he made at her behest. It was quenched not in oil but in the molten brine of a gemspring, by a technique that is lost to us now. After it came into her hands the queen used it against youma, never against men. Her successors were not so scrupulous, but I think the blade remembers. What it was forged for, how it was meant to be used.

"As for Toku-ou's death, there is no consensus. Some claim she died purging snow-demons from the uttermost north. Others say it was a witless skirmish between barbarian clans. The kirin who served her sought for years and found no replacement, but her heart was never in the search, it's said. In the end she ordered her shirei to devour her alive." A little silence. "I must apologize. It is not a comforting end."

Taiki lifted his cheek from where it lay against his master's shoulder, only to lower it and let it rest again. 

"I can think of worse," he said.


End file.
